


Echoing Nights

by ProxyZee



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Catwoman (Comics)
Genre: Action, Burglary, Crime, F/M, Forced Orgasm, Gotham, Party, Prostitution, Robbery, Rough Sex, Selina Kyle is Catwoman, Suspense, Time Skips, Young Selina Kyle, manor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-28
Updated: 2019-11-28
Packaged: 2021-01-05 21:51:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21215639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProxyZee/pseuds/ProxyZee
Summary: Cladio Monera is the pressured son of a multi-billionaire investor and executive of a multinational food producer with all the expectations that come with it. When he isn't writing piano pieces, he's mingling with Gotham's high society at his father's behest. One night of hisotherwise static life proves to be quite a memorable one.





	1. Chapter 1

Whenever he plays, he plays according to his mood, and for this particular Friday morning, he's playing a whimsical, fast tune comprised only of the lighter notes within the large, tastefully decorated light beige room he knew as the playing room. One of the few rooms he found to have the enjoyment of taking a quiet moment to make something out of the silence with for as long as he stayed uninterrupted. Though that was a rare occurrence for his freestyling sessions. Something he soon found out was not one of these when his fingers were suddenly stopped by a loud knock at the door. A knock he recognized the brusque harshness of. It could only be one person.

He sighed to himself, and clearly, the stopping of the music was interpreted as a signal for the knocker to enter. He saw the portly, balding, mustached, and finely suited image of his father walking in with a smile he had practiced for years and the same impatient step as usual.

"Cladio! Don't you think it's a little early to be practicing? I don't recall you having breakfast."

Cladio smiles back. Forcefully, as he explains his reasoning for missing out on the meal.

"I wasn't hungry. Thought I'd find another way to occupy myself."

His father heartily laughs as he strokes his tie. Cladio imagined he was self-conscious about stains though he never noticed any.

"Oh, but you will be regretting it once I leave and you go back to playing for the next half-hour, won't you? May as well spare yourself the trouble."

Cladio chuckles in response before stretching out his fingers.

"I think I can handle a little unsettling, Dad," said Cladio with great belief now that his thoughts briefly turned to his father's noticeable gut.

"Well, your stomach," stated his father as he dismissively waved a hand before lightly coughing. Something the interrupted pianist recognized quite well, and had long become familiar with its meaning.

"Now I hope you haven't forgotten to prepare for tonight"

Cladio quietly sighed before looking back to the piano in front of him, and the white, sparkling keys he had a great urge to touch again.

"Just for it to turn out like the others?"

The well-dressed middle-aged man huffed in amusement. An amusement Cladio was almost certain was a cover for disappointment.

"And Monera is a legacy that won't sustain itself. I'd roll in my grave if you allowed the company to fall into the collective hands of the board thirty or forty years from now. You may think that won't be a problem since death will have taken care of me by then, but I'll know. Trust me."

Cladio smirks to himself as he stretches out his fingers in preparation.

"I'm sure."

Before he could lower his fingers, his father speaks out again. With a little more urgency in the tone this time.

"But you will try? I mean, men like us, we hardly have to."

Cladio nodded with a gentle smile. His father looked a little more pleased as he nodded before leaving. Just as Cladio sighed again with more of a frown on his face. His fingers lower further until they were on the keys. Soon, they were dancing as he tried to juggle his thoughts between playing and the expected events within the next few hours. He doubted it would differ very much from before: find someone, try for a month or more, then eventually get too used to them. He was expecting very little and his father probably just a small amount more. Still, he'd rather keep him expecting than giving him a reason to be even more persistent.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cladio attends a usual occasion hosted by his father. Unexpectedly, he meets an enigmatic, unusual person.

As he observed himself in the full-length mirror: Cladio adjusted his black tie with an uncertain sigh. Carefully, he observed the dark suit he wore and his smooth, lightly tanned features. Closely, he observed his dark curly locks atop his head for any trace of white strands or flakes. Despite noticing very little at all that was unappealing in his appearance: he knew his father would find some sort of detail to poke at. A recent behavioral tic. He guessed it to be desperation.

As he thought of that kind of nitpicking happening again, he sighed in preparation. It wasn't as though it was something that he could not tolerate especially due to their brief length. With a final glance to himself, he leaves the comforting distance of his room, and proceeds to further close that distance between himself and the source of the chattering voices throughout the halls that started as faint echoes in his ears. The classical music was the same. Once he had approached a certain, large double door carved entirely out of mahogany wood, he could clearly hear the source of the sounds. After straightening out his jacket, he enters with a deep inhale and meets the familiar sight of the brightly lit "crowd room" as his father proudly referred it as. It was a long and decently wide room with chandeliers lining up at the ceiling in neat alignment.

The tables were cleanly decorated with a banquet, the small orchestral band played well with the diamond-patterned grid windows behind them, the men and women were as well dressed as anyone else in attendance. Some were in their own small groups, some were stood alone at the tables in browsing mode, and others were occupying the marble dance floor in front of the band merrily moving along with the music. All very typical for Cladio's experience. He sighs before slowly walking forward. Unsure of what to do at first as he passed by the groups and dancers. He was sure that they had paid little attention to him, because they had become used to seeing him.

He wasn't completely sure of this assumption at first until the familiar, enthusiastic greeting of his father drew their attention for a very brief moment. Then, to his relief, they turned back away.

"Ah! I was wondering if you would show yourself! You're later than usual."

He sees the ever jovial, smiling image of his father in an even more impressive, light-reflective suit approaching him. His arms were outstretched. At first. Then he lowers them for a quick pat on Cladio's shoulder as he heartily laughs.

"I was this close," said the older man as he pressed his thumb and finger together with the other hand "to turning this booze and schmooze party into a search party!"

Cladio awkwardly smiled as he surveyed the area around him. Expecting the usual smiling, heavily made-up woman his father would always introduce him to whenever he found him on nights like this. As he turned his head repeatedly, he could see that there was no woman approaching or even looking to him. His head turns slowed as he began to realize that this night seemed to be a surprising exception.

"I thought that maybe there was too much organization involved in your ex-partners. You're old enough to find your way around the city anyway."

Cladio smirks as he thinks of the last few times he was traversing around the parts further from the manor.

"Not without a few suits with guns."

After a laugh, Cladio's father beckons a couple of suited men toward him as big and old as himself.

"Well, you know how Gotham is. Excuse me. I have a couple of distributors to speak with."

He watches the patriarch greet the two men with a polite smile and shaking hands. At first, he considered trying to follow expectations until a small, nagging growl within him re-shifted his focus to another need in the pyramid. He turns his attention to the diverse selection of edibles and drinks on the tables. Slowly, he paces up one row and down another while inwardly groaning at the recognition of many of the items available. Straight from the company, he'll one day inherit.

"I was about to grab something from here, but by the look of your face I'm guessing I won't miss much?"

The sudden sound of an unfamiliar voice beside him brought his attention to his right. He makes sight of a young, pale-skinned woman. Short, dark raven hair with a "wild" look to it. Her hair was as black as the short dress she wore with a silver necklace, several bracelets and diamond earrings all bright and sparkling contrasted it almost as much as her skin. Her lips were bright red to the point of having the chandelier light reflecting on them, and her green eyes sparkled. He thought it to be strange that she was brightly smiling to him. He took it as her being polite.

"Actually, there's little wrong with it. I just know it too well."

Amusedly, she smiled with a nodding head.

"Well, I don't blame your dad for advertising. He is a businessman like everyone else here."

Cladio may have been used to getting recognized, but he was mostly familiar with the guests at this point. He can't say he's seen this woman before. He honestly was not sure. It was entirely possible he just forgot. After all, he's been to these parties for quite a long time. With many passing faces in each of them.

"Well, that goes without saying."

"More than you think. Look," she said as she turned her head to survey the guests. He followed her lead.

"See that man there? The one with the pointy beard? Those cufflinks are Swindon's. Gold lined. Four hundred dollars each."

Cladio instantly recognized him to be the CEO of the fashion producer. He nodded in agreement.

"And Mr. Gold Watch over there is wearing the latest D'oro model. On both wrists."

The sight of two gleaming gold watches on each of the chatting, drinking man's hands made Cladio chuckle.

"And that lady there. In the silver dress? That's a diamond necklace from her very own Demiere catalog."

Soon, he was noticing the fitful brandings amongst many of the guests. It was something he glanced over, but had never placed much thought into until she pointed it out. He supposed he should not be surprised. He lived within this sort of background long enough to know that these men and women often had many things in common to be able to have the privilege of being in each other's presence.

"Well, everyone here's a salesman of some kind."

"I can't say that I am. That's how I notice what they don't."

He raised a brow. Wondering if he should keep associating with this woman since she seemed to be the critical kind to his ears. With a small shrug: he decided that perhaps there was more to her that he could perhaps find interest in.

"I don't believe I caught your name Ms..."

Her eyes darted left to right. She quietly bites her lip. Briefly.

"Sebastian," she said with a sudden shift in face. From tense to confident and smiling.

"Lilly Sebastian."

In polite reflex, he holds out his hand before she does the same. They gently shake with bright smiles. Hers was bigger.

"You seem very familiar with these people, Ms. Sebastain. I can hardly believe I never noticed you here before."

"Well, it's not as though I have to be at a party like this to know about the rich and famous. It's not as though they're invisible."

Cladio shook his head as he thought about how often he wished he was with a small frown.

"No. We're certainly not."

He notices her glancing toward his father. He follows her sight to see him happily chatting with the men he beckoned toward him earlier. Soon, he was having a deep laugh. Cladio assumed he must have told one of his jokes.

"He seems like a fun man."

Cladio paid a little more attention to her voice. He noted the refined, gentle tone it had while also clearly native. He heard a lot of voices like hers before.

"He has his ways. What is it you work in?"

She turns back to him with a blank look.

"Hm?"

"What is it you work in? If it's not too prying."

She licks her bright red painted lip before smiling brightly.

"Diamonds. If you count heiress as work."

Cladio amusedly smiled.

"Well, I can relate to the amount."

"Can't say that I'm complaining other than the private tuition I'm just about done with," said Lilly.

"So, you have a lot of free time?"

"Actually. I'm now a student. Yale."

"Congratulations," said an impressed Cladio.

"What study?"

"Management. Networking. Economics after that. Typical."

Cladio thought back to his own studies. Considering the corporate nature of the current industry. Particularly, within the higher echelons of it. He learned that there was little difference with studying numbers other than the widely diverse items and financial states they represented, but numbers were numbers. So, he guessed that their studious experiences were not much different.

"I can easily imagine. It's all math when you really get to the root."

"Most of it anyway," she stated.

"The rest is about spotting too."

"Spotting?" asked Cladio as he raised a brow.

"You know. Suckers."

Lily's statement made Cladio re-consider on whether he should keep discussing backgrounds with her. He wasn't certain how to respond. Nothing of the sort was taught to him. At least he did not believe it was.

So, he decided on seeking clarification.

“Suckers?”

She smirked with a shining glint in her emerald eyes.

“You know. The ones who couldn't tell a diamond from a dime store crystal. On a larger scale, people who think Diamonds are valuable. Which just so happens to be the entire market.”

Cladio nodded in understanding when he recalled a conversation months ago with his father and one of the world’s biggest mining tycoons on the commonality of the gemstone and the man’s joyful explanation of how much value de could dictate of the diamonds with the amount of the market this company controlled. He recalled being quite impressed.

He thought about the name he was given. For such a large part fo the lives of the wealthy: he could not recall a name like hers in association with the kind of business she told him of.

“Sebastian. I don't recall a name like that on any diamond mining operation.”

“We’re not as big as certain others,” she explained humbly.

“But big enough for you to be here.”

“Well, having a foot in the door has its advantages.”

Lilly looks over Cladio’s shoulder with a bigger, more flirtatious smile. It took him off guard at first until he realized she was looking behind him. He turns to see the familiar sight of the young and orphaned Bruce Wayne dressed in a tux. The young man, close to Cladio’s age, turned his head away as he took a sip from the wine glass.

“He seems uninterested.”

Lilly amusedly grins as she waves to the orphaned billionaire before lowering her hand with a sigh.

“Mr. Wayne is just fun to mess with. He doesn't always know when to loosen up.”

Cladio felt a pang of sympathy. It didn't seem much of a mystery to him as to why Bruce would not be interested in her gestures.

"Well, he may be twenty one now, but I'm sure he wasn't young enough to not recall."

"He's old enough to have gotten over it. Him being here shows he's well on his way."

"I suppose," said Cladio with a shrug.

"You had good reason not to recognize me by the way. I'm kind of new."

A smile of relief came to Cladio. So, he wasn't just losing track.

"It's a party in a manor. They're all kind of the same."

She nodded politely before turning her head back. Then she returned her attention to him with a courteous grin.

"Well, not all manors are the same. You wouldn't mind giving me a tour, Mr. Minera?"

It did not take long for him to come to a decision. She may not come from a kind of family with the kind of influence or wealth his father would hope for, but he was always curious to see where encounters like this could go. Happily, he nodded before walking away from the banquet table.

"If you like. I doubt there's much you haven't seen somewhere else."

"Always room for surprise," she said while walking closely behind him. Her proximity was signaled with the clicking of her high heels. Cladio kept it in mind to listen closely to them in case she ever wandered away and finds herself lost. It wasn't long until he found himself fearing that could be a risk as they left the party room, and heard the clicks quickly scurrying away from him. He turns to see her admiringly observing a hung framed painting on the wall close to the left side of the dual stairs. He looks up to see the painting: a slightly blurred depiction of a tall, humanoid black cat standing in a dark bedroom in front of a man sleeping alone in bed with an open window showing a bright full moon.

"Night of the Werecat. It's one of his favourites."

"By Pierre Leveaux. Twenty million."

Cladio was little taken aback by her response. She turns around with an amused expression.

"Don't look so surprised. His name's at the bottom."

"Well, you're right on the value, but he got it for five million less."

"Lucky him."

She turned her head slowly to observe the rest of the paintings lined up on the walls beside the entrance to the banquet.

"He's got a nice collection. Eighty million altogether. He really has a thing for the French pieces."

"Ironic, considering our Spaniard roots."

"Funny. I'm an American with a guide book on Italian painters."

"He's a fan of those too."

Lilly's eyes widened and her red lips curved up in pleasant interest.

"Are they on a wall too?"

"Of course."

She smiles in excitement while crossing her arms and tapping her shoe.

"Well, lead the way."


End file.
